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Thursday Mar 13
The Plumbing Industry Alliance, a body which represents most of the industry’s leading associations, is looking to rally support for its ongoing campaign against ‘rogue trainers’ - unregulated training schools that charge students ‘over the top’ fees.
Training schools which offer qualifications and then fail to deliver are costing students thousands of pounds, says the Plumbing and Heating Industry Alliance (PHIA). The Alliance, which represents some 20 trade bodies with over 30,000 members in the UK, is campaigning to put an end to what it calls ‘rogue trainers’ PHIA Chairman Chris Sneath says: "There’s a crazy situation where anyone can set themselves up as a training school and claim to teach someone to be a qualified plumber in as little as four weeks. Needless to say, these get rich quick merchants charge a fortune — I’ve heard of as much as £5000 — but the would-be plumbers parting with their money end up with virtually nothing, certainly not the means to start a legitimate career in our industry. It’s nothing short of daylight robbery."
The industry’s accepted qualification for a plumber is National or Scottish Vocational Qualification (NVQ or SVQ) at Level 3. Typically this takes a minimum of three to four years training on the job, combined with study at a recognised training provider.
Chris Sneath adds: "The entire plumbing and heating industry recognises the NVQ at level 3, a completed formal apprenticeship or appropriate experience over many years as the minimum for a legitimate plumber. Unregulated trainers will often turn out cowboy plumbers, with all the risks to public health that entails. But sad to say, the Government doesn’t want to know. I’ve personally spoken to government representatives, but they don’t want to interfere in what they call ‘free market practice’."
The PHIA is asking the media to support its campaign by refusing advertising from these rogue trainers. "We often see adverts for them contained in newspaper career supplements," says Sneath. "We do realise that it’s not always easy to instantly recognise the good from the bad, but we are happy to offer advice." The PHIA hopes that its campaign will help to eradicate what has become a problem
The Plumbing Industry Alliance, a body which represents most of the industry’s leading associations, is looking to rally support for its ongoing campaign against ‘rogue trainers’ - unregulated training schools that charge students ‘over the top’ fees.
Training schools which offer qualifications and then fail to deliver are costing students thousands of pounds, says the Plumbing and Heating Industry Alliance (PHIA). The Alliance, which represents some 20 trade bodies with over 30,000 members in the UK, is campaigning to put an end to what it calls ‘rogue trainers’ PHIA Chairman Chris Sneath says: "There’s a crazy situation where anyone can set themselves up as a training school and claim to teach someone to be a qualified plumber in as little as four weeks. Needless to say, these get rich quick merchants charge a fortune — I’ve heard of as much as £5000 — but the would-be plumbers parting with their money end up with virtually nothing, certainly not the means to start a legitimate career in our industry. It’s nothing short of daylight robbery."
The industry’s accepted qualification for a plumber is National or Scottish Vocational Qualification (NVQ or SVQ) at Level 3. Typically this takes a minimum of three to four years training on the job, combined with study at a recognised training provider.
Chris Sneath adds: "The entire plumbing and heating industry recognises the NVQ at level 3, a completed formal apprenticeship or appropriate experience over many years as the minimum for a legitimate plumber. Unregulated trainers will often turn out cowboy plumbers, with all the risks to public health that entails. But sad to say, the Government doesn’t want to know. I’ve personally spoken to government representatives, but they don’t want to interfere in what they call ‘free market practice’."
The PHIA is asking the media to support its campaign by refusing advertising from these rogue trainers. "We often see adverts for them contained in newspaper career supplements," says Sneath. "We do realise that it’s not always easy to instantly recognise the good from the bad, but we are happy to offer advice." The PHIA hopes that its campaign will help to eradicate what has become a problem